Adra, Najwa

Research AssociateAmerican Institute for Yemeni Studies

Dr. Najwa Adra is a cultural anthropologist with long-term research and consulting experience in Yemen. In 1978-79, she lived in a rural tribal community in Yemen’s Central Highlands while she conducted field research on the semiotics of dancing and tribal identity. Since then, she has conducted further research elsewhere in Yemen and has consulted with FAO, UNICEF, USAID, the World Bank and DFID. In 2000-2003 she piloted the highly successful Literacy through Poetry/Heritage, an adult literacy project in which learners’ own oral traditions formed the texts from which they learned to read and write. Dr. Adra’s academic publications include articles on heritage and sustainable development, tribalism, dancing and tribal identity, women’s oral poetry, and the impact of television on rural Yemen. Her development reports cover the topics of adult literacy, women in agriculture and social exclusion in Yemen. She is currently completing a book on tribal identity in Yemen.